Renminbi internationalisation and China’s financial development

There is a widespread view that China’s currency can be used in international markets only after the liberalisation of China’s domestic financial markets and the opening of its capital account. Yet evidently the renminbi’s internationalisation is preceding these so-called preconditions. This article assesses the tensions inherent in renminbi internationalisation starting at a transitional period in China’s financial development. For now, effective capital controls allow the Chinese authorities to retain regulated deposit and lending rates, quantitative credit guidance and bond market rationing. Relaxation of the capital controls would put these policies at risk. Reserve requirements can be extended to bank inflows from the offshore market but only at a price.